Flat coil carton



April 9 B. H. HAYES 7 3,439,863

FLAT COIL CARTON Filed May 29, 1967 FIG! il 1G2 6 BUFIBFTBFHFT fl 1W??? IW HII PM l 2'ou\ lou l I l l6o ATTORNEYS United States Patent FLAT COIL CARTON Billy H. Hayes, Decatur, Ala., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Calumet & Hecla Corporation, Allen Park,

Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 29, 1967, Ser. No. 641,857 Int. Cl. B65d 13/00; B65h 55/00, 75/00 US. Cl. 229-23 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A flat coil carton comprising upper and lower annular walls having the radially inner and outer edges thereof cut to form tabs, the tabs being bent respectively downwardly and upwardly to define inner and outer side walls,

and being bonded together.

Background of the invention The invention relates to packaging fiat coils of tubing or the like, which in the interest of economy requires the package to form upper and lower annular walls and inner and outer side walls.

Patent 3,314,586 to Frank, assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a carton of this general type requiring specially formed and cut tabs which are interleaved in a particular manner.

A further application of Frank, Ser. No. 419,776, filed Dec. 21, 1964, now Patent 3,332,601, also assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a further carton comprising upper and lower annular members having edge walls notched or slotted, interleaved i a particular way to mechanically interlock with each other.

Summary of the invention The present invention represents a simplification of the Frank patent and application in that the tabs produced by slotting and folding the radially inner and outer edges of the annular sheet material do not require special configuration nor interleaving to produce an interlock.

In accordance with the present invention the radially inner and outer edges of the annular sheets are merely slotted or cut and scored to produce foldable tabs which are folded to assemble the two parts together in the manner of a lower receptacle and an upper cover having side walls overlying the side walls of the lower receptacle.

Details and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view of one of the annular sheet members with its inner and outer edges cut and scored to produce the foldable tabs.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the assembled carton.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on the line 33, FIG- URE 2.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawing, the carton comprises a pair of annular sheets formed of suitable material such for example as corrugated board. The two annular members may be identical with the result that in assembly the inner and outer side walls formed by the tabs on the upper member diverge while the inner and outer side walls formed by the tabs on the lower member converge slightly. Specifically, the annular sheet members designated in FIGURE 1 are of course of full 360* degree form although only a 90-degree segment is shown in the figure to permit illustration on a larger scale. At the inner edge of the member 10 is cut as indicated at 12 and the material is scored as indicated at 14 to provide fold lines so that the individual tabs 16 may be accurately formed by equipment designed to press all of the tabs into position perpendicular to the sheet 10 in a single forming operation. Inasmuch as these tabs will taper slightly from their attached edges at the fold line 14 to the free edge, single cuts are satisfactory and when the tabs 16 are folded into substantially perpendicular position with respect to the sheet to form the inner side walls, the space between adjacent tabs will be of slightly tapered width increasing outwardly from the sheet 10.

At its outer edge a plurality of slots 18 are provided, each of the slots being in radial alignment with one of the inner cuts 12. The slots 18 accordingly produce tabs 20 which are substantially wider than the tabs 16 but which are arranged in radial alignment therewith. Intermediate the slots 18 are provided score lines 22 on which the tabs 20 may be folded. Since the slots 18 are produced by cutting out material so as to provide a spacing as indicated at 24, it will be appreciated that in assembly the ends 26 of the tabs 20, when folded into position perpendicular to the sheet 10, will be slightly separated apart adjacent the sheet 10. If the material cut out from the slots 18 results in ends 26 which are parallel to each other than the tabs 20 will be of trapezoidal form and the outer corners will be closer to each other than the inner portions of the edges of the tabs. The outer corners of the tabs 20 in assembly may be spaced apart or may contact. While in FIGURE 1 the ends 26 are illustrated as radial, the ends of these tabs 20 when folded are illustrated in FIGURE 2 as providing the ends 26 in substantial parallelism with each other. It will be understood that the important thing is that the slots are so formed that the ends of the tabs 20 do not interfere with each other when folded to be perpendicular to the sheet 10.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3 the complete carton is intended to surround the annular coil C of tubing as best illustrated in FIGURE 3. The lower annular sheet, here designated 10a, has its outer tabs 20a and its inner tabs 16a bent upwardly at substantially degrees to form in effect an upwardly open receptacle. The upper annular sheet, here designated 10b, has its inner tabs 16b and its outer tabs 20]; bent downwardly so as to in effect produce a cover having internal and external downwardly extending flanges adapted to overlie the side walls on the receptacle. As seen in FIGURE 3, the side walls are slightly inclined to the vertical.

In order to provide complete protection for the coil C within the carton, the upper sheet 10b is positioned with reference to the lower sheet 10a such that the space 24a between adjacent tabs 20a is out of registration with the space 24b formed between tabs on the lower sheet 1011. Since the inner and outer tabs are in radial alignment the same condition exists with the inner tabs as best seen in FIGURE 3, where it will be observed that the space formed between the ends of the tabs 16b is out of registration with the space formed between the tabs 16a on the lower sheet.

In assembly the inner and outer tabs of the lower sheet 10a may be folded upwardly by any suitable means such for example as by pressing the sheet 10a into an annular recess. Thereafter, the coil C may be placed in the recess. Alternatively, the coil C may be placed on the sheet 10a before its tabs are folded and thereafter the coil pressed into the recess with the sheet, thus bending the tabs upwardly towards close proximity or contact with the inner and outer edges of the coil. Thereafter, the upper sheet 10b may be placed in position and all of its tabs simultaneously folded downwardly so as to overlie the edge forming tabs of the lower sheet 10a, the relationship being such that each tab of the upper sheet overlies a space between adjacent tabs of the lower sheet.

The carton is completed by bonding the tabs of the upper or cover sheet 1011 to the inner and outer walls formed by the upwardly bent tabs of the lower sheet 10a. This may be accomplished by placing hot or cold ,melt or pressure sensitive adhesive on the inner surfaces of the tabs'of the upper sheet 10b or on the outer surfaces of the tabs of the lower sheet 10a. Alternatively of course, other means may be applied to retain the upper and lower carton-forming components in place.

In the completed carton it will be observed that the coil C is completely covered and is moreover, provided with inner and outer walls which are in close proximity to or abut the adjacent surfaces of the coil. The carton thus provides the most eflicient support for the coil which permits it to be placed on a support extending into the opening of the carton and withdrawing tubing from the coil by rotation of the coil on the support. In the completed carton the location of an end of the tubing may be marked on the exterior of the carton so that access to the end may be had while maintaining the substantial integrity of the carton.

As previously described, each of the slots 18 at the outer periphery of the members is in radial alignment with one of the inner cuts 12. It has further been pointed out that in the assembled carton the slots or cuts of one of the members are circumferentially spaced from the slots or cuts of the other member, as best illustrated in FIG- URE 2. Since the inner and outer cuts or slots in each member are in radial alignment it is only necessarv to assure circumferential spacing between cuts or slots on one flange, either at the inner or outer edge thereof, with respect to the cuts or slots in the outer member to assure that all cuts or slots of one member are closed by a tab of the other member. Thus, in placing the member which is to become the top or cover member relative to the other, it is necessary only for the operator to observe that at some conveniently visible point, a cut or slot of one member is circumferentially spaced from the next adjacent cut or slot provided on the other member.

The drawing and the foregoing specification constitute a description of the improved flat coil carton in such full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, the scope of which is indicated by the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A carton for a flat coil of tubing comprising an annular first sheet having its radially inner and outer edges cut or slotted radially to a depth substantially equal to the thickness of the carton which are bent laterally substantially perpendicular to said sheet to produce an annular recessed carton portion, an annular second sheet identical with said first sheet and having its inner and outer edges cut or slotted radially to a depth substantially equal to the thickness of the carton to produce tabs which are bent laterally to laterally abut the side walls of the first sheet, the cuts or slots at the inner edge of each sheet being in radial alignment with the cuts or slots at the outer edge thereof, all of the cuts or slots in one sheet when assembled into the carton being circumferentially spaced from the cuts or slots in the other sheet, each tab of one of said sheets being bonded to a side wall formed by the bent tabs of the other sheet, whereby each of the inner and outer tabs of one sheet covers the space between adjacent inner and outer tabs respectively of the other sheet.

2. A carton as defined in claim 1 in which each of the tabs of one sheet is bonded to a portion of the outer surfaces of a pair of adjacent tabs on the other sheet.

3. A carton as defined in claim 1 in which the side walls formed by the bent tabs at the inner and outer edges of one sheet converge and the side walls formed by the bent tabs at the inner and outer edges of the other sheet diverge slightly.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,927,343 9/1933 Heil.

2,880,866 4/1959 Van Dyck.

2,832,466 4/1958 Shcard.

3,018,883 1/1962 Wohlforth.

3,332,601 7/1967 Frank 229-23 DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

